Project description
Micrometre-resolution method for impurity-based stratigraphy in polar ice cores
Polar ice cores are vital for understanding past climates and predicting future climate change. The Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT) illustrates shifts in climate cycles. However, in deep ice, layers compress historical data, obscuring details and requiring a new micrometre-resolution method. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the THINICE project will use a 1D-2D Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) technique to establish high-resolution impurity-based stratigraphy. By integrating 2D imaging and microscale profiles, the project will identify preserved layering in ice cores. Using the Greenland RECAP core as a reference, it will establish stratigraphic criteria. Ultimately, the project aims to enhance ice-core analysis and help to position Europe at the forefront of the field.
Objective
Polar ice cores are our most precise archives of past climate. Anticipating future change requires resolving the dynamics behind major transitions, most notably the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT) with the characteristic shift from 41 kyr to 100 kyr cycles, yet the decisive information is preserved in the deepest, thinnest ice where up to ~20,000 years can be compressed into a single metre of ice. Such compression obscures stratigraphic features and places high demands on the spatial resolution of analytical techniques. A new path is therefore needed: a micrometre-resolution stratigraphic method that preserves fine-scale variability beyond the reach of centimetre-scale melting and explicitly accounts for microstructural effects that distort the signal. This project will establish an integrated 1D-2D Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) approach at true micrometre resolution for impurity-based stratigraphy, working on the newly established LA-ICP-MS facility in Bremerhaven and leveraging Prof. Dr. Pascal Bohleber's expertise in glaciochemistry and micrometre-scale impurity imaging. Two-dimensional impurity imaging is combined with micro-scale line profiles and quantifies line-to-line coherence to identify the resolution at which heterogeneous signals converge into a repeatable pattern indicative of preserved layering. Using the Greenland RECAP core as a thinning analogue, we will establish objective criteria and thresholds for stratigraphic interpretability and derive an acquisition regime that yields spatially coherent profiles. The resulting framework will be then applied to exemplar intervals from Beyond EPICA, testing transfer to the oldest Antarctic ice. Arriving as Beyond EPICA, the oldest ice core ever retrieved to date covering the MPT, enters its analysis phase, this project converts micro-scale chemistry into robust stratigraphy, maximizing its scientific yield and positioning Europe at the forefront of ice-core science.
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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27570 Bremerhaven
Germany
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